Nut blanching machine including paired rubbing belts



E. W. BRIDGE NUT BLANCHING MACHINE INCLUDING PAIRED RUBBING BELTS Dec. 30, 1947.

Filed Feb. 25, 1946 s Sheets-Sheet 1 R m d Nd 7 B V 3 um w a Q w Q N m v i Q \Q I 9 m6 ATTORNEY.

Dec. 30, l947.- 2,433,730

NUT BLANCHING MACHINE INCLUDING PAIRED RUBBING BELTS E. W. BRIDGE 3 Sheets-Shet 2 Filed Feb. 25, 1946 l N V EN TOR,

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. Dec. 30, 1947.

E. w. BRIDGE NUT BLANCHING MACHINE INCLUDING PAIRED RUBBING BELTS Filed Fb; 25,' 1946 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 mmvrok, L'dwara WBrL ATTORNE Y.

Patented Dec. 30, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT oFricE NUT BLANCHING MACHINE INCLUDING PAIRED RUBBING:v BELTS 'Edward W. Bridge, Philadelphia, Pa. Application February 25, 1946, SeriaLNo. ..649,984

7 Claims. 1

My invention relates to the art of removing the skins and/or hulls from nuts such as almonds, and the like, and it'particularly has for'its objects: to provide a machine for removing (the shells or hulls from nuts in one-pass throughthe machine; to provide mechanism-having pro visions, first, to give the nuts a hot watergzor steam bath, convey the nuts from, the bath: to a machine for removing the hulls or skins,- and there loosening and removing the hulls-andskins A further object of the invention is toprovide sets-of upper and lower belts, the lower' belt having transverse relatively shallow relatively non-flexible transverse ribs. spaced apart: a distance sufiicient to permita largenut to drop,

ends, the invention still further includes those novel-details of construction, combination-and arrangement of parts all of which will hereinafter be fully described and then will be -specifically pointed out in the appended claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,

- in which:

- Figs. 1-1 (joined on the line AB) is. aside; elevation of my apparatus, the partsin Fig.-, 1 being shown in section.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the'skin and hull removing machine.

Fig. 3 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail longitudinal section of a portion of the same.

In the drawings, in which likenumerals of reference indicate like parts in all-the figures, I is the main frame of the machineto whichis: attached the nut-oiftake conveyor frame 2 and one or more sub-frames 3. The sides oithe frames 3 are provided with bosses Athat-are bored and tapped to receive the adjustingsc-rews of belt pressure roller adjusters l4 and belt tight- I ener roller adjusters 15. The belt pressure rollers are indicated by l3 and the belt tightenerrollers are indicated by I6.

The sub-frames 3 have upper and lower pairs of bearings 5 with caps 6 for the shafts 8; and

1 of the, upper ,and lower raised face- :belts I I) ,and

ll respectively.

;.The lower belt I] is formed of rubber ll? havzing:.a fabric, backing; li It is providedtwith relatively,- thick: shallow transverseribs :l l ewhich are spaced apart adistance' suflicient to; constitute ittansverseytroughs to receive; the nuts .N: betweenithem. Th pp rv b t. I 0. s also fo med of rubber lDefabriobaok as-latelll and provided with relatively long or deep flexible transversely disposed'ribs W the ribsgl llPxbeing spaced apart preferab y. al ss r. d s n t a th spasms of zinc .Iti :H. ..T he;j 1 rpre erably ..ha.ve..th ir. oppo ed e disposed i l eiuxtaposition along ;their operative flights: as 1 is; best shown in- Flg.= 4.

The shafts 8 and lcarry rollers 9 about which ,the belts Ill-and ll travel. The subframes 3 have slots :I2-tg permit adjustments-eitherrollers l3 and-1 I 6 respectively. p

:The frame I maybe-provided with bearingsl! and caps .l81 for the shafts 39 ofv a skins-andhulls ofitake conveyor rollers 68 a bout,- which rollers -.the endless belt 40 passes.

The driving ones of the shafts} (right hand onesin Fig. :1) ,have pulleys 19 about which,an

; endless belt- 20 passes, and.eachsaiddriving shaft 5. 8, also has a small spur gear 2 [which mesheswith a large spur gear ;22' on the shaft 1 .below the shafts'il, 8. I The shaftv 1-, which has the ..ge ar-.,,2 2,

; carries adriv-ing roller- 9 ,,aroundwhich, and: a ;-second roller 9 on .the -othershaft 1;,the.,lower raised-face belt ll passes.

1A frame3 andthe parts 4; 5-,. 6,1 8; 9; l0;- ll,

12, -13, 14, 15,115, 19 and 2| constitute a complete :assembly or unit. -As many. of these; units; may ;be included in the machine, as may a be zifound necessarylusually two) in order :completelyyto free the nuts of' their, skins and hulls.

Ax:bracket 23 is secured .-to; the; main frame. I

:and supports the drive;motor-,124 and reduction gear mechanism, in a-housing 25. The motorgand reduction gearing may be of any approvedtype. The drive shaft 26 ofthe motor-gearing is,.connected-to drive shaft'8 of :the firstunit ,by a belt $28 and pulley 21, as, bestfshown in Fig.2.

The driven shaft 1 of the second unitcarries a pulley 29 over which'an -endless belt 34 takes. The belt, v3 1 also takes over a pulleyu35 on a shaft. 69- of the nutioiftakeconveyor. A- second ,pulleyfl36 onshaft B9 isprovidedto receive a .belt :38 that'in'turn passes over apulley. 31.,on a shaft 39 .ofthe hullandskinsconveyor. The frame-2 is provided with hearings-:30 ,for the shafts 69. The; shafts, 69. carry rollers 3l.-over ll of one unit and the intake end of the lower conveyor of the next unit below, to blow the loosened hulls and skins from the nuts as they leave one unit and pass onto the next succeeding unit.

45 designates a hopper into which the nuts, which have previously been steamed or subjected to a hot water bath, are delivered. The hopper is mounted on the first unit at its entrant end so as to deliver the nuts onto the lower conveyor of the unit in advance of the upper conveyor of the same, as best shown in Fig. 4, by reference to which it will be seen that the bottom of the hopper is open and there is provided a corrugated roller 46 whose shaft 41 carries a pulley iii. A bafile 48 deflects the nuts and prevents their being carried over by the roller 46. A flexible flap 49 drags on the belt II and deflects the nuts toward the roller 46.

As a part of my continuous process of blanching nuts, I provide a tank 50 and a foraminous conveyor (preferably wire) 5| for conveying the nuts from the tank 50 to the hopper 45. The conveyor 51 includes rollers 65 mounted in suitable bearings in the tank 50 and on a bracket 64 which may be attached to the hopper 45.

The conveyor 5i passes over guide rollers 52 and is driven from a shaft 53 by a belt 55 passing over a pulley 54 on shaft 53 and a similar pulley on the shaft of the tank pulley 65, and outside the tank (see Fig. 1 The shaft 53 is preferably driven by a third motor (not shown) so that the speed of the conveyor 5| may be regulated independently of the speeds of the conveyors of the two complete assemblies or units on frame I, for purposes later clearly understood. There is also provided an agitator 55 on a suitable support 51, driven by belt 58 and pulleys 59 and it! from shaft 53. The agitator serves to shake the belt 5! to throw off water from the nuts, hulls and skins as they are carried from the tank 50 to the hopper 45.

To hold the nuts below the water line in the tank 50 I provide a screen 1|, as shown in Fig. 1

The forward shaft (left hand one in Figs. 1 and 4) I of the first unit has a pulley 60 over which, and over the pulle 6| on shaft 41, an endless belt 62 passes. When belts and pulleys are used for the various drives, I prefer to use V-type belts and pulleys. However, if found desirable, sprocket and chain drives may be substituted.

The width of the machine will depend on the width of the belts I0 and I l, whose widths may be from one to twelve inches or more for mass production.

Operation The nuts to be blanched are placed in the soaking tank 50 where they are subjected to hot water or steam treatment for a time sufficient to loosen the hulls and skins. From the tank 50 the nuts, etc. are conveyed to and dumped into the hopper 45. The interval of time the nuts are retained in tank 50 will be determined by the nut being treated, which time varies slightly in various kinds of nuts. After the nuts have emerged from tank 50, the vibrating device 56 vibrates the wire mesh belt 5| to remove some of the excess water from the belt and from the nuts. The belt 5! is of suihcient length to permit the nuts to cool somewhat before entering the grooved-face rubber blanching belt II. The roller 46 of the feed hopper 45 turns in a clockwise direction in Fig. 4 and forces the nuts back away from the lower grooved face rubber belt. This feed regulating roller is to prevent choking the mouth of the feed hopper, and regulate the layer of nuts to pass through and between the aforesaid grooved face rubber belts.

The grooved-face rubber belts H3, ll are provided for each unit of the machine, one running over the top of the other. Both belts of a unit run in the same direction to carry the nuts forward, the upper and lower belts being adjustable to apply the proper pressure on the nuts that pass between the two moving belts. The rubbing or blanching action takes place while one belt is travelling at a higher rate of speed than the other. The slower moving belt is merely a pressure belt for retarding the forward travel of the nuts, while at the same time acting as a means for transporting the nuts from one end to the other of the grooved face rubber belts. The upper belt of each unit is placed somewhat ahead of the lower belt to leave room to permit feeding the nuts on a flat surface of the lower belt. The upper belt Ill being provided with deep flexible rubber ribs and traveling fast over the top of the lower belt permits the transverse rubber ribs or the upper belt to flex or yield according to the thickness of the nuts. This high flexible transverse rubber rib becomes self adjusting for the various thicknesses of the nuts or in other words, take three nuts, one directly in back of the other, going through the machine, the flexible rubber transverse ribs of the upper belt fan or brush across the tops of the nuts. The thickest nut will get sufficient pressure applied to break the hull in one pass. Then the nuts are transferred to the second and third stages of the machine. Here the nuts have the tendency to turn over on their opposite sides. This turning over action is not per cent, but a great many will turn over. From here we continue the same process, going through the second stage rubbing the nut with a, light flexible rubber transverse rib. The more passes and the more rubbing of theflexible ribs the nearer 100 per cent blanching we will get, eliminating shoveling the nuts back into the machine or having a lot of nuts crushed from too much pressure applied on the top and bottom sides of the nut. The same arrangement is carried out in each series of double belts.

Each pair of grooved face rubber belts it, ll

' is arranged so that the discharge end of one pair of belts is higher than that of the next succeeding pair. This allows the nuts to drop from one pair of belts to the next succeeding pair. In the course of dropping from one pair of belts to the next pair, the air blowing in the machine at this place will blow the light-weight skins and hulls away from the nuts, down to a lower accumulating belt 4!! that removes the detritus from the machine. Another reason for dropping the nuts from one belt to the other is to give the nuts an opportunity to turn over. 7

As before intimated, the number of belt assemblies or units is optional, depending upon the condition of the nuts.

One of the improved features of my machine is thatthe' use of tWo rollers with anendless grooved face rubber belt increases the time of friction onthe'nuts over what is possible in those machines using round rollers where thefriction on thenuts isappliedonly at the time when the nuts are directly in a center line of the main axes on which the rollers turn.

While rubber belts ill and H are preferable, canvas belts with suitable cleats may be used if desired.

When the upper belt is driven fastert-han the lower belt, therelatively deep flexible or resilient ribs will tend to throw orfiip the'nuts from the lower belt atthe-discharge place of the lower endless conveyor, onto the receiving place of the next units' lower'conveyor and thus counteract any tendency of the blast from nozzles 63 driving the nuts meats with the hulls and skins back between-the adjacent units. Attention is called to the fact that the spaces between the transverse ribs or cleats H serve as transverse gutters or troughs in which-the nut kernels lie freely. Further the movement of the upper belt serves to push the'kernels against the advance rib l l giving the nut a popping squeeze; the-contact of thekernel with the advance rib H prevents the kernel from being merely rolled along the slower moving belt by the movement of the faster moving belt and insuring sufficientsqueeze to be appliedrto the kernel to pop the kernel loose from the skin.

I also prefer to provide more ribs I 0 per unit of length than there are ribs H thereby increasing the efiectiveness of the wiping or rubbing action on the nuts.

The flap 49 being flexible-resilient and long enough to extend into the transverse grooves of the conveyor II, as the conveyor moves the flap will vibrate and exert an agitating action On the nuts within the hopper thereby assisting roller 46 in preventing bridging in the hopper.

This application is a continuation in part of my application filed June 13, 1944 Serial No. 540,159 now abandoned.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it is thought the construction, operation and advantages of my invention will be clear to those skilled in the art.

What I claim is:

1. In a machine for removing hulls and skins from nuts wherein the nuts are passed between endless belts, the improvement which comprises: a main frame; at least one unit mounted on said main frame and itself comprising a subframe; a lower endless conveyor belt having transverse ribs spaced apart to receive nuts in the spaces between the ribs, the ribs being of a depth less than the thickness of the smallest nut to be processed; two rollers journalled in said sub-frame about which rollers said lower belt passes; belt pressure rollers mounted on said subframe between the upper end lower flights of the belt; an upper endless nut-rubbing belt passing about two rollers mounted in said sub-frame; said upper endless belt having flexible ribs of greater depth than the depth of the ribs of the lower belt; belt pressure rollers mounted in said subframe and located between the upper and lower flights of the upper belt, the lower flight of the upper belt and the upper flight of the lower belt lying, in part at least, in close juxtaposition; means to drive said upper and lower belts at different speeds, by virtue of all of which the ribs of the upper belt on engaging a nut on the lower belt will flex and exert a wiping action on the nut toremove hulls and skin.

. 2. Ina nut blanching machine: a main frame; a plurality of units, each including a sub-frame mounted on said main frame, an upper and a lower endless horizontally disposed belt conveyor mounted in the sub-frame, one conveyor above the other and set in advance of the lower con-' veyor, conveyor belt tighteners and pressure rollerscarried by the sub-frame, gear connections between the upper and lower conveyors-by means of which one conveyor travels faster than the other; said units being mounted instep-pe'd rela'-' tion so'that the nuts from one unit are dropped on to the lower conveyor of the next succeeding unit; a hopper and nut feeding means mounted to deliver nuts onto the lower conveyor ofthe first unit; an'inspection belt onto which the nutsare'delivered by the last unit in turn; means between adjacent units for blowing away the skins and hulls as the'nuts pass from one unit to the next succeeding unit, and means on the upper belts tending to flip the nuts from one unit to the other for purposes described.

3. In a nut blanching machine, the improve-' ment which comprises: a frame; an upper pair of rollers withshafts journalled in bearings in said frame; a lower pair of rollers with shaftsjournalled' in bearings in said frame; endless transversely grooved rubber belts passing, respectively, around'said pairs of rollers and forming between them a pass for the nuts, the upper pair of rollers and belt being offset with respect to the lower pair of'rollers and belt, the grooves and the upper belt being deeper than the grooves of the lower belt to provide ribs of greater resiliency and flexibility than the ribs formed between the grooves on the lower belt; a gear connection between an upper roller and a lower roller; means for delivering the nuts onto the lower belt, said means comprising a hopper, a feed roller in the hopper adjacent the lower belt, means for turning said feed roller in a direction to oppose movement of the nuts with the lower belt, and a flexible flap on the hopper opposite said feed roller and engaging the ribs of the belt beneath to prevent the nuts from crowding out that side of the hopper; and means for blowing away the hulls and skins as the nuts are delivered from the lower belt.

4. In a nut blanching machine: a main frame having stepped portions a nut rubbing and conveying unit mounted on each step, each unit comprising an upper endless belt conveyor and a lower endless belt conveyor parallel to one another, the upper conveyor at the discharge end of the unit overhanging the lower conveyor and the lower conveyor at the entrant end of the unit lying free of the adjacent end of the upper conveyor; a feed hopper over the free end of said lower conveyor; a blowing means at the discharge end of said upper and lower conveyors; means forming a part of the upper conveyor tending to.

throw or flip the nuts from one lower conveyor to the next lower conveyor, past the blowing means; and means for operating the aforesaid conveyors and blower.

5. In a. nut blanching machine: a main frame I having stepped portions; a nut rubbing and conveying unit mounted on each step; an extension frame secured to the main frame; an endless inspection belt and an inspection table mounted on said extension frame; a hull and skin offtake conveyor mounted on said main frame below said units; and means for blowing the hulls and skins from the nuts onto said hull and skins offtake conveyor at the places where the nuts are passed from one unit'to'the next unit, and means in each unit for flipping the nut meats past said blowing means from one unit to the next. 1

6. In a nut blanching machine wherein is provided upper and lower longitudinally off-set horizontally disposed endless belts between which the nuts pass and onto the lower belt the blanched nuts are deposited, the improvement which comprises fiexible belts for the machine, said belts being transversely grooved to leave' transverse ribs, said belts being spaced apart a substantially greater distance than the thickness of a rib, the grooves being adapted to receive the nuts between two ribs and the ribs of the upper belt being flexible and resilient and being adapted to exert a wiping action on the nuts when one belt is running faster than the other, said lower belt at its front end passing through a feed hopper, said hopper where the belt enters being provided with a flexible resilient flap that engages the lower belt within the grooves thereof, and a feed roller spaced from said flap and located at the exit end of the hopper.

'7. In a machine for removing hulls and skins from nuts wherein the nuts are passed between endless belts, the improvement which comprises: a frame; a lower endless conveyor belt having transverse ribs spaced apart to receive nuts in the spaces between the ribs, the ribs being of a depth less than the thickness of the smallest nut to be processed; two rollers journalled in said frame about which rollers said lower belt passes;

belt pressure rollers mounted on said frame be tween the upper and lower flights of the belt; an upper endless nut-rubbing belt passing about two rollers mounted in said frame; said upper endless belt having flexible ribs of greater depth than the depth of the ribs of the lower belt; belt pressure rollers mounted in said frame and located between the upper and lower flights of the upper belt, the lower flight of the upper belt and the upper flight of the lower belt lying, in part at least, in close juxtaposition; means to drive said upper and lower belts at different speeds, by virtue of all of which the ribs of the upper belt on engaging nuts on the lower belt will flex and exert a wiping action on the nuts to remove hulls and skins. i

EDWARD W. BRIDGE.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 431,949 Marshall July 8, 1890 1,133,121 Gebhardt Mar. 23, 1915 1,350,506 Kennedy Aug. 24, 1920 1,364,083 Demerath Jan. 4, 1921 1,623,739 MacFarlane Apr. 5, 1927 2,143,020 Markley et al Jan. 10, 1939 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 442,901 France July 1, 1912 

